The Laborous Trials of Six Exhausted Demigods
by books4life99
Summary: In this Percy Jackson fanfiction, following the Heroes of Olympus series, (The Trials of Apollo does not exist in this version) six demigods, led by the youngest and most mysterious of them all, must re-accomplish the twelve labors of Hercules, while meeting many familiar faces and new, darker threats along the way. We wait your arrival.
1. I get a Letter From my Stalker

**Disclaimer: We do not own Percy Jackson. All rights go to Rick Riordan. The only characters we own are Ivy, Ian, Marie, Cameron, Bekah, and Lydia**.

 _Warning: Each chapter will be written in another person's POV._

 _**Ivy Abernathy's POV**_

I wish I could dwell on how nice and normal my life had been up to this point, but that would only remind me that it's not anymore. As far back as I'm willing to go is this past week... So here goes nothing...

Everything was going great. I had just been accepted into Harvard, my father's school might I add, and my twin brother, Ian, had the same stroke of luck by being accepted into Westpoint Military Academy. It seemed nothing could go wrong in our lives, well, that was until I started getting stalked... in my dreams!

Ian so far had been spared from suffering the nightly arrivals of the intruder in my mind, he was always lucky that way. What was the best way to describe my stalker? Surprisingly, it was not a creepy old man or anything disturbing like that, instead it was a young girl. She couldn't of been any older than 15, and she was very pretty. She had the brightest red hair I had ever seen, pale skin, except it wasn't an unhealthy pale, it glowed like a pearl, and her eyes were as blue as the Caribbean.

Each night she would say the same thing with light and melodious voice, "I will reach you soon. Wait for me."

Then I would wake up. It was a short dream, but it was one of those dreams that felt like a few seconds but you had actually slept like ten hours. It was very disturbing. The most disturbing part is that I had been having this dream every night for two weeks now, and I was getting sick of it. And to my despair, I had it again tonight.

When I woke up with the same panicked breaths escaping my lips, I tried to compose myself when I looked at the clock, '7:03 AM'. Quickly getting dressed in my usual blouse and black jeans, complete with a Harvard sweatshirt, I rushed downstairs buzzing with excitement, I had almost forgotten the dream by the time I reached downstairs... almost.

Ian had already made a plate for me, which held a beautiful stack of pancakes smothered in peanut butter and syrup, my brother knew me too well. I was halfway through my stack when my twin interrupted me at his own risk,"So... Are you not going to wish me something?" Adding a not so subtle clearing of his throat. I set down my fork reluctantly sighing,"Fine. At the same time... One... Two... Three..." Then, simultaneously, we rushed around the table colliding in a hug, exclaiming, "Happy Birthday!"

The loud celebration, of course, woke up our father, who then groggily made his way downstairs."Why did the two of you have to be early birds? You definitely didn't get being a morning person from me." He muttered to himself, clearly exhausted."Well if you didn't work yourself to death so late in the night, then maybe you would realize your two brilliant children are a whole year older." I announced with a broad grin. He returned it once Ian handed him his morning coffee. Our dad, Rick Abernathy, had dark brown hair like me, while my brother received our dad's same chiseled features, but while my dad had rich brown eyes, Ian and I both had stormy grey eyes. He always told us they were identical to our mother's. While I got our mom's face features, Ian got her thick black hair, but we only knew that because that is what our dad told us she looked like, we, personally, had never met her.

Whenever dad spoke about her, he always got this far off look on his face like he was thinking about everything that was good in the world. Apparently she had been a Greek and Latin Mythology professor at Harvard for six months while the current professor had taken a momentary leave of absence completely out of the blue. During that time, my father and her spent every waking minute together, he even told us that he was going to propose before she left her job as a substitute, but suddenly she was gone and two babies instead where left in his office with a letter that explicitly explained that they were his and her children, but she could not raise them because of complicated circumstances. One thing was very clear though, my father was never going to see her again.

But, he took on the task of raising us with great excitement, and now, eighteen years later, we were all grown up and headed off to college, even though he would still see me often enough in his own classroom, I knew he was having a hard time watching us become the independent individuals that he raised us to be. It made him feel old."Tell me," Our dad with his naturally crooked grin widening on his face, "Do you feel any older or are you forever stuck as minors trapped under my all-powerful monarchy?"

Ian laughed a casual chuckle, "Well, I do feel older, but I thought you were always going to be in constant control over our lives, with us being your lowly subjects... I mean children."

"Correct answer," Professor Abernathy proclaimed to his son, "I have definitely raised very bright children!"

I couldn't help but laugh at our dad, it was hard to believe he could be so fun-loving and goofy one minute, and become the strict law professor that every future lawyer at Harvard feared completely.

And what he said next, though it seemed very unimportant, it changed my life forever."Oh! And Ivy, there's a letter here for you. From an Maria C. Billows. Do you know her from somewhere?"

I inhaled sharply, "No." I responded quickly, but I had a fear that I knew exactly who she was.Taking the letter cautiously from my dad, I opened it, though opening it felt about as safe as setting off a nuclear bomb. Ian could see from my expression that something was wrong, looking over to our dad, he reminded our father kindly that he had to be at his office in less than ten minutes, and with that Rick Abernathy wished his children Happy Birthday once more before grabbing his suitcase and rushing out the door.I breathed a relieved, "Thank you!" to my brother, which he responded to with a casual shrug. Then returning my attention back to the mysterious letter, I readits chilling contents,

 _Dear Ivrene and Ian Abernathy,_

 _My name is Maria Coral Billows, but I prefer to be called Marie. Although we have never met... personally, I especially cannot wait to meet Ian, his dreams are quite difficult to enter, I know that the two of you are what I've been searching for. You do not have much time. The darkness is gathering and although the world seems peaceful now, there is much to fear.There is a safe haven however, and I know it is selfish of me to require this of you, but I can only give you the location if you come and take me there, for I have very little time left. Please. I need your help and you both need mine. Come and find me at the address below. I await you._

 _Wishing you good fortune in times ahead,_

 _Marie_

 _P.S. Travel by land.And Take A Pit Stop In Boston._

My hands were shaking, I wanted to pretend that this letter was just a sick joke, but the way Marie spoke in my dream and the urgency shown in this letter forced me to see the truth. This girl was in trouble, and we were too. We all apparently needed each other, so that left me with one option.Looking down at the address listed at the bottom of the paper, 9128 Berkview Lane, Spring Valley, CA.My brother gave me a strange look after he finished reading the letter over my shoulder. "Who's Marie?" I didn't answer his question because even I still didn't know. But I knew I couldn't suppress the urge to meet her any longer, especially now that I had her location. Turning to my brother, I asked him seven words that would change our lives immensely."How do you feel about a roadtrip?"


	2. Why Do I Listen to My Sister's Ideas?

**Ian Abernathy's POV**

We had just graduated two weeks ago, and I had wondered since graduation night why Ivy kept acting so... off. But now, lucky me, I knew. Apparently, she was being stalked by a middle school girl in her dreams, and now she said that the girl has sent us a letter, giving us her location as if she was expecting us to drop everything, drive cross country to go pick her up and take us all to the mysterious 'safe haven' from her letter. The scariest thing about the whole thing was that my sister actually wanted us to do it.Before I could even process what was happening, Ivy had left a letter for dad telling him we were going on a celebratory graduation road trip together, saying we were sorry that we couldn't give him more notice, and within ten minutes she had both are bags packed. My sister was seriously ADHD, I was too of course, but I was still in shock that she wanted to go through with this horrible plan because both of us never made horrible plans, it was against our very nature!

As soon as she handed me my suitcase, I snapped out of it, tossing the dufflebag right back at her. She gave me a confused and innocent look, but I didn't care, I was steamed,"What do you think your doing? You must be out of your mind if you're actually believing a single word from that letter!" I announced, probably harsher than I planned to be. Ivy just simply met my eyes, and I could tell by her conflicted expression that she already knew this plan was crazy, all she needed was my support. So, since I am the best brother in the world, I took the dufflebag and went and started the car. What would she do without me.She slided in next to me, hopefully our old white 2007 Ford Taurus was still in good enough shape to get us across America, dad took the 2014 Chevy Malibu to work with him, while all we had was the get-you-through-highschool-mobile that may or may not break down on us by the time we reach Missouri.

Oh well, car troubles aside, that only seemed to worry me, we hit the road. It would take around fifty hours to reach Spring Valley, California from Cambridge, Massachusetts. We were on the road for literally five minutes before Ivy slapped me. I swerved slightly before sighing in frustration, "What now?"She pointed at the letter, where in the P.S. section it told us to take a pit-stop in Boston. Well that is just great... Boston was twenty minutes away... in the opposite direction. Without even questioning my sister, I took my first chance to turn around and headed straight to Boston. Once we got there, we drove and drove without a specific destination until my sister shouted, "HERE!"

What the heck? I pulled where she directed me to and it was right in front of this old mansion, there was a sign out front that said, **The Chase House** Why were we supposed to come to a house for homeless teens, it didn't seem right. But Ivy had already exited the car and was approaching the house with serious determination, I reluctantly followed her. She knocked on the door and it immediately opened to reveal a 5'4" African-American man with a crooked nose and a very handsome suit.

He gave us a suspicious look, but didn't say anything as he let us inside, once we were in the mansion, he shut the door hard behind him, turned to us and asked darkly, "Are you the ones?" Ivy nodded. He continued quietly, "We've been expecting you. My name is Blitz, follow me."He led us to room with four other people, a blonde boy who seemed to radiate a warm summertime feeling, a green-haired girl dressed in an array of pink and green clothing, another girl, who looked Middle-Eastern, wearing a green hijab, and a tall pale man with stark white hair and a candy cane striped scarf. It was definitely a... diverse group of individuals.

The girl wearing the hijab approached us and introduced herself, "Hello, my name is Samirah al-Abbas, but you can call me Sam. Welcome to the Chase House..."

"What are you doing here." The green-haired girl interrupted."Smooth, Alex. Real smooth." The blonde, summertime boy muttered to himself.

The pale man with the candy cane accessories did some hand motions in their direction and Sam responded with different hand motions in return. Great. So they didn't even have to talk behind our backs to talk about us. Suddenly, I really wish I had taken that offered sign-language course, and what's worse, Ivy hadn't taken the class either.

Slowly, I raised my hand with great caution. They all looked at me with piercing eyes. Hoping that I didn't sound like a scared school boy when I spoke, I asked, "Why are we here?" I honestly didn't know who I was even asking at this point because my sister was no help at all.Sam looked over at the blonde haired boy with a confused expression, turned back to me, saying, "You don't know?" Ivy jabbed me in the side and quickly responded,"Of course we know why we're here. Right, Ian?" She looked at me desperately, but I through with her ridiculous plan.

"No! I don't what we're doing here! I don't know why we're going on this idiotic mission to meet a girl that's been literally stalking your dreams! I mean, how messed up is that?"

I took a breath, I almost continued my rant, but the green haired girl, Alex, started clapping slow and dramatically.

"Wow! And I thought Magnus was emotional. You two are going to get along splendidly," She exclaimed smugly gesturing between the blondie and me. Both of us were unamused.Ivy was steaming, she leaned and whispered harshly, "We'll talk about this later, Ian."

"We'll talk about it now!" I proclaimed, with just as much severity in my voice."Do you two need a moment alone?" Alex asked sarcastically.

If I was in a better mood, I would've enjoyed her sarcasm, but right now I did not find it very helpful. But, I began to cool down. I looked over once at my sister and decided now really wasn't the time, but when it was the time, she would not escape my wrath.Taking a deep breath, I calmly looked at Sam and asked, "So, why do you think we're here?"Sam just simply put her hand inside her coat and pulled out a blue envelope and handed it to me.

Opening it, I read the contents:

 _Dear Chase House,My dear friends on the Norse side, although we've never met officially, I need your help. I saw that you have a new mode of transportation. I'll be having two close friends of mine stopping by who are in desperate need of a more stable mode of travel. If you could be gracious enough to lend it to us, I give you my solemn that it will be returned to you unharmed._

 _Wishing you good fortune in times ahead,_

 _Marie_

How rude of her to assume we're friends. The nerve of some people! How is Ivy remaining so calm? I mean, this is some creepy stuff. But, she's acting like it's totally okay for a fourteen year old psychic to know everything about you and at the same time know everything you're going to do next. Like I said, it's creepy. Then, I heard Ivy speak up,"So, what's this mode of transportation?" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alex smirking, then she did the most unexpecting thing imaginable, she pulled out a gold kazoo and blew into it. It sounded like a cat choking on a harmonica. Then, a gush of wind nearly blew me off my feet, Ivy, on the other hand, had been blown completely to the ground, which caused her to look quite dazed and confused. It made my day slightly better.Standing before me was a boar. Not just any boar, this boar was the size of a tractor and pure gold. Ivy looked absolutely terrified, there was a reason why she never liked Pumba off the Lion King. Although, I was not a big fan of the boar myself, just to show up my sister, I slowly approached it, patted its snout, and said in my most friendly manner,"Well aren't you a tough guy," I turned to Magnus, "What's its name?"

"Gullinbursti, but we like to call him Gary for short." Magnus informed us while trying to hold back a smile, "Don't worry about his speed and strength, he'll be able to handle both you two... and your car."

I could tell he wanted me to ooh and aah, but looking at this massive creature, honestly, I wasn't surprised.The candy cane dude walked up to Gary the Golden Boar and began attaching a saddle and two extremely thick gold chains on either side of the saddle, then began to lead Gary over, to my great horror, our car. I did not know what they were about to do next. Blitz followed Candy-Cane over to the car and attached the chains to the front fender. With how fast I'd seen that boar enter, I had a sinking feeling that the front half of my car would be ripped off and dragged off with us to California before I even got the chance to say, "Let's go!"

Listen, maybe I should be freaking that giant gold boars exist, but my sister and I have seen some crazy stuff over the years. I just tried to put it in the back of my mind. Because if I thought about it too much, let's just say people would begin to think that I was a tad bit crazy. And, I didn't want the words _possibly insane_ written on my resume to West Point. I'm pretty sure Ivy felt the same way.

When they were finished getting Gary ready for riding, I quickly jumped on the saddle, just wanting to get this whole trip over with. But there was one problem. Ivy was still petrified on the side walk. Something truly sad about Ivy is that she's allergic to bacon. No, it was not a life choice. She had just simply inherited our dad's pork allergy. I, thankfully, was spared from this terrible curse. The painful part is living in a house where no bacon is allowed. It's like asking a kindergartner not to color, that is how dependent I am on the rare and sacred meat. Ivy, although she was only allergic to eating a pig, she was still quite capable of riding one.

Who knows? Maybe golden pigs are hyper-allergenic.

Quickly jumping back off Gary, I kindly thanked our strange new friends for their hospitality and the free bacon, sorry last bacon joke... for now, and threw Ivy over my shoulder, planted her on Gary, mounted Gary so I was sitting in front of her, and gently asked her, "Are you going to be okay?""Fine!" She quickly responded, her voice sounded rather high pitched. I would've maybe believed she was actually fine, but as I kicked Gary in the side and announced, trying to sound confident,"Giddy up, Gary!" My sister nearly crushed my internal organs, and throughout the whole trip, which was blurred and contained a lot of whip lash, as we sped to California at the speed of sound, my sister continually kept muttering, "Fine!" To herself over and over and over again. THE. WHOLE. WAY. THERE!Finally, when we saw palm trees and beaches, Gary began to slow down and Ivy began to loosen her death hold. Kindly, putting my hand on hers, while she continued her, "Fine!" monologue, I announced,"Welcome to California! Thank you for riding Air Boar! Now let's go find your creepy stalker! Apparently, she's awaiting us. So, let's not keep her waiting!"


	3. They attempt to run me over!

**Marie Billows' POV**

It's annoying being able to clearly see the future of all the terrible things I do not want to see, but when I simply just want to see when and where my new friends will exactly show up, my visions seem clear as mud. The last vision I saw of them arriving was at a small law firm called Walter, Walter, and Walter Law Firm. They should've been here by now. I mean, I explicitly told them where they could get a quick ride over here. It's been three days since I sent them that letter. Although I could not see the exact time that they would get here, I knew the date that they would. May 23. What's so hard about getting here by today? I gave them enough notice.

In the distance, I saw that my wait was over. Driving down the main road, was a small white car. I couldn't contain my excitement. Sprinting out in the middle of the road, I couldn't just let drive off without seeing me, the approached me, but they weren't stopping. Were they really going to run me over? That seems kind of rude. Once they were a half a foot in front of me, thanks to my ADHD, I was able to slam my hands onto the hood of their car, thankfully the driver, oh look its Ian, had the sense to stop suddenly. Hopefully they didn't have whip lash.

Keeping my hands on the car, I shimmied over to where the driver's window was, behind the tinted window, Ian was... scowling at me? Slowly, and a bit dramatically, the window rolled down and Ian, who still looked unhappy to see me, strange, asked in a dark tone, "You're her, aren't you?"

He said it like it was an insult, but I cheerfully replied, "If you mean I'm Marie, then you are correct. Very nice to meet you, Ian." I shoved my hand into his window to meet his, hoping to receive a firm handshake of friendship, but instead, he simply ignored my hand and ordered firmly, "Get in the back."

"Oh, okay." I said, slightly discouraged. But, I obeyed calmly and climbed into the back seat, because we were still in the middle of the road. Oops. A couple cars behind us were stopped and honking, which caused Ian to peer his head out of the window and stick his tongue out at all of them. Ivy muttered to herself at her brother's display, "Real mature, bro."

I grinned at how adorable they were.

I took off my back pack and placed it next to me. Inside was an extra pair of clothes, some snacks, and my hand crossbow, χαλάζι φwτιά or better known as Hail-Fire, it was just the length of my forearm and only had two rounds of these weird gold arrows with similar gold plating on the bow. Always have to be prepared for a fight. Those are my grandma's words of wisdom.

At first I didn't notice it, but both of the twins were staring at me. Oh did I staring, I meant glaring. But, I took a deep breath and realized, oh they just need me to tell them where to go next. I'm sure that's it. With a light smile on my face, I kindly informed them, "We need to go to Portland, Oregon next, in case you were wondering." Ian looked like he was about to explode, but Ivy calmly held up her hand to stop him, and exploded instead,

"PORTLAND! YOU EXPECT US TO TAKE YOU TO PORTLAND, OREGON! WE COME ALL THE WAY HERE ON A GOLDEN PIG, JUST TO PICK UP A MIDDLE SCHOOLER WHO WE BARELY KNOW! NOT TO MENTION, YOU'VE BEEN STALKING MY DREAMS FOR THE PAST TWO WEEKS! BUT FINE! WE'LL TAKE YOU TO OREGON! BUCKLE UP!"

She was scarier than that time when Mount St. Helens erupted.Ian looked like he wanted to cry out for joy, hugging his sister with great enthusiasm, he proclaimed, "I'm so happy you're not insane!"

"Of course, I'm not," Ivy responded like it was obvious, hugging her brother in return, "Did you really think I thought this was a good plan? Trust me, I had been planning on what to say to this... little cutie ever since you put me on Gary."

That's when I noticed the kazoo hanging around Ivy's neck.

"Where is Gary?" I asked, "You should probably call him over, we have quite a bit more traveling ahead of us." I continued while gesturing to her kazoo necklace.

"What makes you think that we want to get on that thing again?" Ivy snapped.

"Well. It's a faster way of getting to Portland, for one thing, I mean we could take this car, but it would take a good twenty hours or so... Whatever the driver wants I guess." I speculated. Ivy looked like she was about to say something quite harsh, but Ian put his hand on her shoulder and said smugly, "Yeah, Ivy, Gary would be faster and more efficient... It's what the driver wants, after all." While motioning to the steering wheel and back to himself. Ivy just pierced him with a look of hatred.

"Really. This is your way of getting revenge. I thought you had more class." Ivy growled, but she didn't question her brother. Lifting the golden kazoo to her lips, as soon as the wicked noise was blown through the kazoo, the tractor-sized boar from my visions came into view. I was slightly unsettled, lets just say, seeing something in a vision is much different from seeing something in real life. Ivy though, seemed to have forgotten all her anger at me and used that energy to look truly terrified of the boar's return. Ian had to practically drag Ivy out of the car and throw her onto the saddle. Thankfully, he helped me get on since I was shorter than both of them.

Ian then attached the car with heavy golden chains to Gary. Without even asking if we were ready, Ian exclaimed, "Su-wee!" And off we went. At the speed of a rocket! I almost flew off, but I feel like that's what Ian wanted.But, we were only on Gary for one minute before we stopped. We probably traveled quite a bit of distance, but although Gary was fast, it would still take at least a half an hour to reach Oregon. We couldn't have been even out of California yet. And to my horror, we weren't.

I recognized all the buildings and streets. This was Berkeley, California. Why would Ian stop here? And so close to the place. Ian was guiding Gary over to the beach, but it was a beach that I recognized far too well. My mother's restaurant was right in plain sight. Just a few yards away.Soulle's Sunbar.

The place hadn't changed at all in the past year. The first thirteen years of my life, I had practically spent every waking moment in that restaurant. Either helping my mom, or just working on my homeschool work. I only left because my mother sent me away for this past year to live at my grandparents.I could see my step-dad, a tall African-American man, Gregory James, taking out the trash. He was a nice guy, but he did look rather shocked when he looked up and saw me with two mysterious eighteen year olds. Running up to us, he asked sternly, "Marie, what are you doing here? And who are... your friends here?"

"Why does everyone assume we're friends?" Ian muttered to himself. We all ignored him."Honestly, I don't know what we're doing here. But, this is Ian and Ivy. My very close friends." I sassed while holding eye contact with Ian. Ivy sighed, but Ian strangely gave me two thumbs up. Maybe I will never understand him. My step-dad just motioned for us to follow him inside. While we were walking behind him, I turned to Ian and asked,"Why did you bring us here? How did you even know about this place?"

"Well, first of all, I'm hungry. Second of all, I can't really explain it, Ivy was drawn to the Chase House, the same way that I was drawn here and now that I see that this is your favorite restaurant, we have to eat here." Fates were cruel.

Once inside, I saw that the place was fairly empty, but it was beautiful how my mom designed the place so that all the light was able to be let in. Greg went behind the counter and began to make us some cheeseburgers. He leaned over to me, in the middle of grilling the patties, "Your mom's not here right now. I'll mention this to her later, but I wouldn't advise you to stay. Just eat your lunch and be on your way." He looked sad as he told me this. After all, he really was a nice guy.

He served us our cheeseburgers, my mouth watered, I hadn't even realized how much I missed Greg's cheeseburgers. Ian and Ivy seemed to be big fans also. Ivy was halfway through her until she stopped, as if she came to some terrible realization. I didn't think the bacon cheeseburgers were that bad.

Ivy sprinted to the bathroom, Ian and I had already finished our cheeseburgers. We waited by the bathroom door for about fifteen minutes and Ian looked rather worried. From his expression, I definitely did not want to know what was going on in there. When Ivy finally exited, she looked pale and green at the same time. She was shaking rather violently and Ian helped her out of the restaurant and onto Gary. Ivy glared at Gary as if somehow he had caused her pain. I gave Greg a good-bye hug and got onto Gary. I wasn't sure what Greg was seeing, but he acted as if it was normal. Finally, we left.

The rest of the journey went smoothly with no more pit stops. Before we knew it, we arrived in the drizzling yet colorful city of Portland, Oregon.

Time to find our next companion. Hopefully, he would be more friendly.


	4. We get attacked by chicken-ladies!

**Cameron Valparaiso's POV**

Should I go with the toaster and the bald-guy on his laptop... or the waitress and the fireplace? It's a difficult choice. I'd like to say that I normally don't think about these things, but that would be a lie. Ever since middle school, when I discovered the joys of shooting spitballs at substitute teachers, well, the joyous part about _my_ spitballs, is that they happened to make the substitute teacher make out with the white board that they were writing on. Very romantic. I never missed a target. Until now.

Back to the choices that I always have trouble making, whenever school's out, I always try to find a very public place where I can do my dirty work. Mwahaha! I guess that these are powers that I possess, well I don't really see the point of them other than to bring me great amusement. My favorite targets are people and inanimate objects. You'd be surprised how affectionate they can be with one another. But, I do have some decency, I never aim at unsuspecting, attractive girls looking my way because I'm chivalrous that way. I respect their feelings. But that was until I met her. I didn't mean too. I truly want to fall in love with someone for real, and vice versa, but you should've seen her! My mother would definitely punish me for my inconsiderate behavior if she found out... if.

I was really beginning to consider the waitress and the fireplace, until she entered the room. On instinct, I aimed at her without hesitation and fired. It would've hit her too, if the annoyingly handsome guy right next her hadn't caught it at the last second. His reflexes were like a ninja. Who did he think he was anyway? Her brother! Her boyfriend! I gotta know!

Immediately, he recoiled in disgust from the realization of what he just caught. You're very welcome random guy. Thankfully, he didn't turn my way, but at the waitress staring at the fireplace. That girl was in for a surprise. He swaggered her way like an over confident pirate, and leaned against the wall. Smiling a crooked grin that made the waitress blush, I couldn't hear what he was saying to her, but it must've worked because within ten seconds, they were kissing. Wow. I am a good match-maker. When they were finished, they exchanged numbers and he swaggered back over to my original target.

Then, a young red-headed girl burst through the door approached the two, then pointed at me. The creepiest part about it was that she was smiling at me like I was her favorite person in the world. I mean, I am pretty great, but I'm not into middle schoolers. I guess that it's not her fault that I'm this handsome. All three approached me, the girl I was aiming for did not look quite as happy to see me. Best way to describe her, red with unforgivable rage, but at the same she looked like she was trying her hardest not to crack up over the boy's display of affection. Guessing he's not her boyfriend. YES! And she has a sense of humor. DOUBLE YES!

They sat in the available couch next to me as I tried to focus on my cappuccino. The red-haired girl was closest to me, still smiling, my target was piercing me with a stormy stare, and lover boy was still sending kissy faces at the waitress, who was blushing madly.

My target was the first one to speak, "How long is this going to last?" While gesturing over to Romeo. I shrugged,"Thirty minutes max. An hour if we're lucky." She slapped Mr. Right when he started purring and clawing at the waitress playfully like a flirtatious cat.

She returned her gaze back to me, her eyes were like a thunderstorm, "Just so you know, my brother is so going to kill you when he snaps out of this. Isn't that right, Ian?" He waved her away then began making heart shaped gestures while pointing at himself and the waitress.

"So, what brings you to Holy Grounds Coffee House? Was it the cappuccinos?" I asked casually, trying to make conversation in the awkward situation. The middle schooler looked me in the eyes and responded in a knowing voice, "We came for you."

After that response, I was very tempted to go running out the door, screaming, "My mom's a lawyer!" But, I kept my composure and replied calmly, "Oh! That's nice." My voice may have come out a bit high-pitched. She reminded me why I hated middle school. A place where I was always uncomfortable.

I should explain my predicament. First of all, I only wear pink and red clothes. Is it by choice? Don't even ask me that! I loathe these colors, but I can never escape them. Any other color that I've ever tried to wear has turned these putrid colors. I look like a walking valentine! And trust me, Valentine's Day is my least favorite holiday. But, my clothes don't seem to realize that. Even at this moment, talking to this rather fine girl, I was wearing a red t-shirt, pink jeans, and red Converse. Once in a while, if I'm lucky, white is added to my color selection, but only before labor day. At the moment, I was safe with my Pepto-Bismol colored pant legs hidden behind a coffee table, so at least I don't look like a complete buffoon.

"So... Why have you come for me? Who even are you people?" I asked without really wanting an answer.The creepy ginger smiled as if she was making progress and answered cheerfully, "My name is Marie, and this is Ivy and Ian. We came because you need our help, and we need yours. There is a safe place out there for people like us, but until we have everyone, I won't be able to find it."

"What do you mean, 'people like us'? I'm not in any danger." I said, confused but secretly convinced that they were telling the truth. Marie gave me a look of pity, which made me feel like I was a child who didn't know any better. I knew I was different from other people, but I although I had powers and dressed out of the ordinary, I really did a stand up job for not drawing attention to myself.

Now, I was seen as possibly dangerous and needed to be sent away for being different because a fourteen year old told me to. I'm eighteen! I answer to myself now. College was just around the corner, I didn't need to be listening to this. Ivy must have saw my conflicted expression because she reached out and gently but her hand on mine, whispering,

"Listen, I know this sounds crazy. But, somehow this is the truth. My brother and I came all the way from Massachusetts to California to here because we know deep down that it's right. Just trust us."

I did. Really. Well, at least I trusted her, but before I could give response, her brother Ian snapped out of his enchantment."What's happening? Where am I? Who's he?" We ignored his questions and Ivy muttered, "About time." But, although they all seemed like nice enough people and they seemed to think I belonged with them, I knew my answer, "I'm sorry, but I'm fine where I am. If I'm in danger or am dangerous, well, that's my own business. Sorry that you wasted time coming up here, but I'm not interested." Marie's shoulder's sagged, Ivy wouldn't look me in the eyes, but Ian looked like a grenade whose pin had been pulled."What do you mean 'you're not interested'! No. That is not an option. You're coming with us. Gary can definitely handle the extra weight. Come on! Don't wait up!" He announced for the whole café to hear as he yanked me out of my chair, exposing my fuchsia jeans, which to my horror, Ivy snorted at. Now completely miserable, Ian dragged me outside, which caused me to spill my coffee along the way, his cruelty knew no ends.

But, hey, at least I met Gary. Whose Gary you wonder? Oh, only a monstrous boar that's been tackily spray painted gold. What's up with that? The only reason I didn't like Gary is because Ian was throwing me on him against my will. Unluckily for him, I was an only child who knew how to throw a temper tantrum, of course, it was more age appropriate. I just simply refused to stop laying on the ground, and every time Ian tried to pull me up, I would yell, "I will resist the Man!" Most people ignored us, thinking I was some random protestor, but a few of them actually shouted back at me,"You go! Fight for what you believe, man!"

Huh? Maybe they thought Gary was a bulldozer. I can see the resemblance. Ian was at the point of frustration where he was desperate enough to pull me onto Gary, military style. Who was this guy? A marine? By the time I was wrapped around his shoulders, Ivy and Marie had stumbled upon our situation. I didn't even want to know what it looked like to them. Ivy sighed and asked,"Is this even legal?"

"I'm just giving our buddy here a lift." Ian said, patting my leg in reassurance. I looked at Ivy with real fear in my eyes and exclaimed,

"I'm pretty sure there's nothing legal about kidnapping! I should know, my mom's a lawyer!"

"Oh, your mom and our dad would get along splendidly. He's a law professor at Harvard. Small world, isn't it?" Ian responded with a slightly crazed grin on his face.

It was at this moment, that I was positive that my face was going to be memorialized in a missing poster, but then I was saved by a flock of chicken ladies. But to my great pain, one of the female poultries landed on Ian, and with me still on his shoulders, I had quite the hard fall. Dazed on the hard cement, with Ian's head resting on my stomach while Ian got the whole KFC on his chest. You know, he looked cuter with her than he did with the waitress. Hopefully she wouldn't get jealous.Good news! Marie killed half of them with a golden crossbow, which caused the monsters to explode like piñatas with golden dust. I don't want to know how she got her hands on a weapon like that. Bad news! Ivy was flying away, more successfully kidnapped than me, with our new feathered friends.

She was definitely putting up quite the fight, causing all of her captors to lose a painful amount of plumage. Ouch.

"Dang! She's feisty. I like it." I said with admiration. Ian just coldly glared in my direction. Marie saved me though by cutting in and saying with purpose,

"We should probably save her."

"This wouldn't have happened if Mr. Valentine hadn't just cooperated." Ian growled.

"That's a low blow. Do you really think I have the magic ability to call down chicken ladies from the sky? I mean, that's a little far fetched even for me. And what do you mean by I should've cooperated? You were kidnapping me!" I yelled, trying to convince him of the lost logic in his statement. He just scowled at me and chased after the chicken ladies. Marie gave me a look and shrugged,

"You can come with if you want."

I really should've just ran right then and there, why I didn't, I still question to this day. But, with an exasperated sigh, I followed after Marie and Ian. Trying to reunite the three musketeers so they can properly kidnap me again. Maybe I should be questioning my own logic.

The, could be fried chicken, landed on top of an old, abandoned t-shirt factory. Once we broke in and made it to the roof, all we found were the remains... Oh, not of Ivy, in case you were worried about her well-being. What we found was Ivy, a small bronze sword in either hand, and piles of gold dust heaped around her. She had a wild look in her eyes, and I had no doubt that she had slayed all those creatures. Remind me not to get on her bad side. She made eye contact with Marie,

"I found some weapons. Can we keep them?" Ian calmly approached his sister and softly answered,"Sure we can, Ivy. Now let's put down the sharp weapons. Okay?" Ivy looked like a two year old who had been told to put her favorite toy away, but eventually she lowered her weapons and muttered, "Fine."

There was a nice array of weapons stock piled in the chicken nest. Ian looked like a kid on Christmas morning. Yep. Definitely a military brat. Who were the parents of these two? Definitely not NRA enthusiasts.

Ian immediately went for a three foot long bronze sword. He admired it, saying, "Nice. Could be useful for later." Giving me a look that made me feel about as safe as if he were literally pressing a gun against my forehead. Yeah, we were going to get along swimmingly.

"So. Are you going to run, because I will catch you, or are you coming along by your own free will?" Ian asked, twirling the sword in his palm like it was a baton.

Well, since there really was no escape, I changed my answer, "Ah, sure, why not? I've got nothing better to do." They all smiled at me like I'd finally done something right, then Marie picked up a bronze longbow and quiver full of bronze arrows and tossed the weapons over to me,"Here," she announced, "You'll need these. We're going to Nebraska."

I did not want to know what was waiting for us in Nebraska.


	5. Librarians hate me

**Rebekah Ben-Yosef's POV**

What is life's greatest question? Why am I here? Who will win the super bowl? Where should I go for lunch? Why do things keep trying to kill me? All are reasonable questions. Sadly, I can't answer any of them. I know what my father would say, "Stay strong in your faith, Rebekah." The problem with that though is my father is Jewish, I was too... but I sort of converted. So much for staying strong in that faith.

I can give the credit to my conversion to the Dollen family. Lydia Dollen, who was in my grade at school, began taking me to her youth group every Wednesday night. Of course I didn't tell my family that because telling Orthodox Jews that you are going to a Christian meeting, would be the equivalent of if I had Christian parents and I told them I was going to a Satanist occult convention. It would not go over well. But, by the end of my freshman year I officially became a Christian and... my parents found out. They threw me out of the house and told me I could return once I stopped thinking foolishness and left my new faith. I've been staying with the Dollen's ever since.

I truly do love it there, yes, there are many days that I desperately miss my parents and siblings, but at least at the Dollen's, I am free to believe what I so choose.

Caroline Dollen, Lydia's mom, is who I like to describe as heaven-sent. She's a single parent, has crazy hours as the deputy at the Kearney Police Department, and she is a foster mom. Lydia is her only biological child, which is no surprise since they are the spitting image of each other, but she had lots of other foster kids who may only stay the night, or they might be there for years, but she had only adopted three of all the children that she has had stay with her. Christopher is two years older than Lydia, but she adopted him when he was three, then there is Grace and Gabriel, a brother and sister who are three years apart who she adopted six years ago. I loved the craziness of living with them all.Ever since I read Anne Frank, I have had an obsession with writing, I related to the fact that she was a Jewish girl who was living in a difficult situation, although she had it way worse. I speculate that my love for writing came about when my father gave me a pencil. It was not an ordinary pencil in the slightest. The graphite was the color of bronze, and the wrapping and eraser glowed the same color, I've never had to sharpen this pencil a day in my live, and it is sharp. Once Lydia touched its point and it pierced her skin causing her to bleed so bad that she had to get stitches. She still distrusts all of my writing utensils to this day.

I asked my dad when he gave it to me where he had gotten it, but his response was strange, "It was your mother's." But, mom was alive and well, plus she didn't like giving me gifts, said it would spoil me. Yet my older and younger siblings always were spoiled rotten whenever Hanukah rolled around, of course now I've switched Hanukah out for Christmas.

One really good thing about Lydia is that she loves writing just as much as I do. Our favorite hang out spot is the public library, so yeah, maybe we are a little nerdy, but there is nothing wrong with that. But today was not quite as enjoyable, as we drank our caramel mochas and typed and edited each other's works, my dad's pencil placed through my bun of thick black hair so it was always with me, the whole library felt disturbingly eerie.

It was very empty with the exception of the few pre-historic old women who worked there. They looked so frail that I was surprised they could even lift a book. I'd left the table to throw my coffee cup away and check out this one fantasy novel Lydia had suggested, when one of the ancient librarians stopped me in my tracks."How may I help you, dearie?" She asked in a grandmotherly tone.

"Well, I was hoping to find a trash can and maybe check out this book." I answered casually, also slightly uncomfortable with how close the with how close the withered old woman was getting to me.

"Well, I'm sure we can help you with that, Rebekah Ben Yosef. You smell wonderful, by the way, quite the powerful scent. After all, you attracted so many of my sisters and I here. Very impressive." Then she and all of the other creepy grandmother's eyes changed into yellow slits, their skin became green and scaly, and their legs were now two trunk-like snake tails that they slithered on.

"שדים!" I shrieked in shock, whenever something really catches me off guard I slip into Hebrew. I accidently screamed "Demons!", but although I have never seen a demon before, I'm pretty sure this is what they look like. I started to quickly back away, but the snake demons moved faster than I thought possible. Suddenly, right before the scaly grandma could attack, a flying book hit her in the face.

I turned behind me to where the book had come from, and there I saw Lydia, rapidly grabbing the heaviest books off the shelves and sending them directly in the faces of unsuspecting, reptilian librarians. I guess her shot put in track really helped out. I know how to choose my friends.

It only dazed the monsters, but once they snapped out of it, it had only really made them angry. Unknown to us, one of the creatures had stealthily slithered around the shelves and was approaching Lydia from behind. By the time I saw it, it was too late to warn her. The demon held up an Encyclopedia Britannica and knocked my friend upside the head with it. I ran to her side, Lydia was on the ground, moaning about lizard people. The snake woman, who was now standing over me, hissed and grabbed my hair, yanking it out of its bun, which sent my pencil flying under the nearest table. Feeling a strong urge to grab it, but not wanting to leave my friend's side, I kicked the snake women in the shin, or should I say trunk, which surprised her enough to allow me the time to go diving for my pencil.

It felt warm in my hand. I twirled it in my fingers like I had a hundred times before as a nervous habit, but this time as the pencil twirled in my hand, it lengthened and grew until it was a six foot tall bronze spear. Whoa. Wasn't expecting that.

The spear was perfectly weighted and felt like it was something I was meant to yield. Though, I wasn't sure how that was possible since the closest thing to a weapon I've ever even held were scissors.

Spinning around, I stabbed and sliced my spears at the scaly librarians like a murderous baton-twirler. Those reptilian bookworms never stood a chance. Which is strange thing to say coming from me since I'm probably one of the least intimidating people in the planet. Lydia can vouch for this.

Looking around I saw that all the snake-like old ladies were dead, well, at least I'm guessing that's why the whole area, including Lydia and I, was covered in gold dust. Lydia, of course was still out cold. Lucky.

I was about to go and try to wake her up, when I noticed something even more disturbing. I was being watched.

Behind the glass doors of the library were four, staring teens. Two guys and two girls. Both guys were tall, but one was tan and muscular, while the other had shaggy brown hair and was dressed in only pink and red. What was that all about? But the girls, on the other hand, one was average height, very pretty, with dark brown hair, while the other looked around middle-school aged with bright red hair and she kept giving me a knowing look like she was watching my future like a movie clip. Creepy.

The younger was the first to approach me with the other following close behind her. She looked deeply in to my dark brown eyes with her Caribbean blue ones, and it gave me serious chills.

"Sorry we couldn't get here sooner, but I figured you could handle yourself just fine. Plus we weren't sure where to park a golden boar." The girl explained, but I hope by the look I gave her she realized how crazy she sounded.

The older pushed the younger girl aside and gave me a sympathetic look, "Look, I know this sounds insane, but you need to come with us, from what I saw, you seem to attract the same monstrous attention that we do, and from what I understand, there is a place where we will be safe."

"You're right... This is insane. You are all a bunch of strangers that I just met thirty seconds ago, and you want me to come with you to an unknown location because some librarians, who are in serious need of skin care treatment, tried to attack me. Maybe I just had too many late books and it brought out their demonic side." My reasoning didn't work on me or them. I know it was a bit of a stretch, but my logic never made any sense in stressful situations.

"Okay. I know that sounded just as insane, and maybe it might be safer to come with you to who knows where. But, its too hard of a decision to make completely out of the blue." I continued, wanting to conclude with saying something that didn't sound like I was a lunatic.

The pink and red boy came up to me and awkwardly put his hand on my shoulder, "Look, I was in your same position yesterday, but as absolutely mad this whole thing is, something in my gut knows this is right. Take a risk, for some strange reason I did. And I'm not even dead yet, so hey, that's a plus." I laughed nervously, but then found myself nodding. Was I really doing this? I think I would have agreed too, if the psychedelic middle-schooler hadn't spoken,

"We'll need to take her too." I was horrified to see that she was pointing at Lydia, did they have a death wish?

"Oh no, no, no... no. She is off limits." I stated stubbornly, placing myself in between Lydia and soon-to-be kidnappers.

But, before I could even protect my friend, I was hit in the back of the head with a very big and heavy hardcover book. Taken out by the thing I love most. They were cruel.


	6. I get to punch a really hot guy! Score!

**Lydia Dollen's POV**

Why does my head hurt so much? When I opened my eyes, everything was blurry. Why are there skyscrapers? Kearney, Nebraska hasn't undergone that much remodeling. Then, everything came into focus. I was being held up by a guy in a red shirt... and pink jeans? Yep. This definitely wasn't Nebraska. I started to get a bad feeling about this.

I remember my mom's basic training. Slamming back my head into the stranger's forehead, he let out a shriek of pain.

"Who are you? Where am I?" I demanded of my captors, "My mom's a cop, so you better have a good explanation for all this." Looking down, I almost leaped up ten feet into the air. Was I on a... gold pig? Maybe I was in Nebraska after all.

The guy behind me was still clutching his head in pain, and I thought I heard him mutter, "Next time we take girls on a surprise field trip, we choose ones with softer skulls." I'll admit. His pain gave me some pleasure. The pig stopped moving. Suddenly, an extremely hot guy in front of me turned around in his seat and announced, "Welcome to New York. You ain't in Nebraska anymore." Improper grammar. Maybe he wasn't that hot. Then, he jumped off the pig, pulled an unconscious person into his arms... NO! He will die today. In his arms, was my best friend and my favorite co-author, Rebekah. I no longer needed any assistance getting off this huge pork chop. I jumped to the ground in one fowl swoop and hot guy didn't even get time to react before I punched him so hard in the jaw that he landed on his butt, right on the hard cement. The thud of his body hitting the ground was so satisfying. The moment he hit the sidewalk, Rebekah woke up in a jolt.

"W-What?" Rebekah sputtered incoherently. When she noticed that she was on top of the hot guy, she jumped off and nearly tackled me. "Lydia? Why am I using a hot guy as a seat cushion?"

"He's the reason why we're no longer in Nebraska!" I exclaimed, giving him my signature death glare. He did not seem intimidated by it at all. He just sat there, fuming.

"Not in Nebraska... Wait! Did you punch him? For me?" Rebekah asked, with way to much excitement in her voice. Why was she so shocked?

"Thanks. I really needed that." The guy muttered.

"You're welcome. I'd love to do it again sometime. No charge." I said smugly, I heard the guy who I head-butted earlier snort at this. Maybe he was someone I could be friends with.

"Should we help?" A red-haired girl questioned. It just occurred to me that there were more people on the giant boar. The girl who had just spoken looked around thirteen or fourteen, and there was another girl with dark brown hair and grey eyes that were twinkling with humor at the sight of the hot guy on the ground.

"No, no. I want to see how Ian handles this situation." The dark haired girl responded to the young ginger. So, the hot guy's name was Ian. Well. I'd better give you a mental picture so you know how hot he is. He had raven black hair and grey eyes, just like the girl on the boar. He was tall and muscular and looked about eighteen. He was scowling pretty severely at me, which gave me more pleasure than his good looks.

The guy dressed like a Valentine stepped forward and held out his hand, shaking mine, he said, "My name is Cameron Valparaiso. The creepy ginger is Marie, the hot girl is Ivy, and knock out over here is Ian, as you may have heard. Welcome to New York! Don't worry. I'm in the same boat as you are. Fellow kidnappee and the other three are all my and your kidnappers. Their not hostile, except one hit wonder over here, I sure wish you were kidnapped with me. I sure needed the extra fist power."

Rebekah and I just stared at him for a moment. Rebekah, being the more diplomatic one, stepped forward and introduced us to our captors, I would've stuck with punching and escaping, but she's more polite than I am, "My name is Rebekah Ben-Yosef and this is my best friend, Lydia Dollen. We're going to run away now." And we sprinted off. For a minute, I actually thought we were going to make it, of course, I was wrong. We felt a sudden rush of wind and Porky the Golden Bacon reappeared right in front of us, preventing any further escape. I definitely will never become a vegetarian now. Suddenly, Rebekah grabbed the pencil that she kept behind her ear. What was she going to do? Write them a ticket for speeding? She twirled the pencil in her hand, AND IT GREW INTO A SPEAR! A FREAKING SPEAR! I knew there was a reason I didn't trust that pencil. Of course, I also don't trust Rebekah with sharp objects so I felt more nervous now than I had before.

Ian and Cameron, who were not on the boar when it came sprinting after us, came panting up behind us. Cameron was giving Ivy a deadly glare for allowing him to run, but he seemed impressed with us. I wasn't sure if we were going to get out of this one.

"Can you just wait and listen for a moment?" Ian pleaded. He still looked pretty peeved. I did not want to give him the chance, but Rebekah nodded and lowered her weapon. She has a spear and doesn't even put it to good use. Unbelievable.

"Thank you," Ian sighed, "Listen. I know it looks bad..." That was as far as he got.

"BAD! THIS IS FRICKEN HORRIBLE! MY MOM, WHO IS A COP BY THE WAY, IS GOING TO COME HOME FROM WORK AND FIND REBEKAH AND I MISSING WITH NO EXPLANATION AND GO ALL FREAKING TERMINATOR! WHEN SHE HUNTS US DOWN, AND BELIEVE ME SHE WILL, EVEN THOUGH IT WASN'T OUR FAULT, WE'RE GOING TO BE AS DEAD AS YOU ARE!" I screamed, unable to contain my fury any longer. Rebekah simply paled and muttered,

"It's true."

But Ian still didn't look intimidated! He just crossed his arms calmly and asked, "May I continue?" I just glared at him, not knowing what to say.

"Great. So, this may come to a great shock to you, but Ivy and I, did not actually have any desire to kidnap any of you. Surprised? You shouldn't be. Because if I found pleasure in kidnapping, I wouldn't have kidnapped you. Anyway, the only reason you are in New York right now is because of her." Ian pointed accusingly at Marie before adding, "She wanted you on this trip for some reason and I'll never understand why we're still following her around everywhere. But we're going to until we reach this sanctuary that she keeps blabbering on about, because I honestly have nothing else left to lose!" Everyone just stared. This guy definitely was a mental case.

In my calmest voice, I replied, "Okay." Ian looked like he was about ready to strangle me. But, something caught my eye. All the citizens of New York were ignoring us and our prized Wilbur except for one person. A middle-aged man with curly dark hair that had streaks of grey, who was wearing a grey golfer's hat, a white dress shirt and grey sweater vest, black slacks that were a tad to big for him around the legs, and long black boots, was watching us from a park bench, and was quite obviously eavesdropping in on our conversation, every so often looking at the giant gold boar behind us with a look of mild surprise on his face. Shakily, he used the light post next to his bench to stand up, then grabbed hold of an oak cane lying on the bench, that had the head of a lion carved as the handle. At first he appeared to be going for a kind, old grandfatherly look, but he had a sneer on his face as he hobbled closer to us, as if we were something rotten.

"I know what you kids are. Follow me." He grunted. We were hesitating when Marie exclaimed,

"Well, come on! We need to follow him. He'll lead us to where we need to go."

"REALLY?" We all synchronized at once.

"Well, of course! He's the one I've been waiting for." Marie explained.

"How long have you been waiting for him?" Ian asked cautiously.

"About a minute." Marie shrugged. Great! So, we were following a complete stranger. Life couldn't be going any better. After a few minutes of walking, I was sick of the silence, so I asked,

"Hey, old guy! What's your name?"

He barely muttered it, but we all distinctly heard him say, "Mister Tumnus." I heard Rebekah shriek with joy, "Like the faun from the Chronicles of Narnia?" The old man whipped around in an instant and faced down Rebekah with a look of pure hatred in his eyes.

"Never mention that book series in my presence, girl! You are officially my least favorite demigod." Mr. Tumnus bleated. "And, for your information, I am a satyr!" concluding by yanking up his pant leg to show... Wait... GOAT LEGS? I needed to be committed because I was seeing things, and did he call us demigods? Oh great. I'm hearing things now too. And to complete his dramatic revealing, he ripped off his golfers hat throwing it into the street behind him, showing off two six inch horns protruding from his skull. I was overloading from the shock of this unveiling ceremony. Everything that was happening was suddenly crashing down on me. The reality of satyrs, giant gold pigs, and demigods. I could barely stand up. I just wanted to be back in Nebraska and forget that this was happening.

Rebekah noticed my quivering stance and rushed over to help me stand, she whispered in my ear, "Just a little bit longer, I know we can make it out of this if we stay calm and collected. Just keep it together, Lydia." I nodded, but kept hold of her as we began to follow the... old goat man again.

Over all, the walk was rather peaceful as we trudged on for a very, very long time. Every once in a while I would hear Mister Tumnus mutter, "We should've been attacked by now. How inconvenient." Not knowing what he meant, and not wanting to know. I chose to ignore him. We reached a forest on the side of a highway, we seemed to be in the middle of no where, but Tumnus seemed to know exactly where we were. He gave another small grunt and we entered the woods. After fifteen minutes of hiking, we reached a hill. At the top, was a tall pine tree with a bundle of cords wrapped around the trunk. Mister Tumnus turned around and looked at us for a long time. The look on his face showed that he would rather be doing anything else right now,

"We're here."

Marie practically skipped up the hill. There were two guards posted by the tree, and those cords weren't cords. It was a... dragon. The guards looked strangely yet expectantly at us, like they were used to random teenagers showing up. They quickly allowed Mister Tumnus and the rest of us through. The last thing I saw after stepping over the border before I fainted, was a blazing red symbol over my head showing two spears and you guessed it! A freaking boar.


	7. Apparently, gods exist

**Ivy Abernathy's POV**

So after traveling hundreds of miles on Gary, unwillingly kidnapping various people, and following a grouchy old man with goat legs, that image is still seared into my brain, we've finally arrived at our mysterious destination. Where there is a ginormous dragon wrapped around a tree and guards who were wearing an ancient style of armor. At first, I was just hoping it was some sort of reenactment camp with really cool special effects. But, then a glowing red symbol appeared right over Lydia's head, two crossed spears and the head of a boar, which was brown and much more wild looking than Gary, I knew that this place was as strange and unexplainable as Marie.

A few more guards rushed over to Lydia's collapsed body and carried her away, much to Rebekah's hysteria. She almost tackled one of the guards holding Lydia's feet, but Cameron, thankfully held her back. One guard, a girl who looked slightly older than me with short blonde hair and a strong build, approached us and motioned for us to follow her. She led us to this large blue house, on the porch was a man riding a horse, at least that's what I thought until I got closer. From waist up he was a bearded, middle aged man wearing a dress shirt and a twead jacket with patches on the elbow, but from the waist down here was the body of a magnificent white stallion. He was a centaur, and I began to wonder if Marie was secretly sneaking something into our meals because now I was officially hallucinating.

"Hello, my name is Chiron, normally I do not show my full form to newcomers, but seeing the type of creature that followed you here, I believe I am not the strangest thing you seen during your trip. Come inside, and don't worry about your friend, she is sleeping in the infirmary under the care of our medics." We followed the centaur inside and sat down on the available couch and chairs.

"Seeing that none of you have been claimed yet, to my knowledge, tell me your names, ages, and who your parent is." I blanched. How did he know Ian and I only had one parent?

Cameron, who looked around seeing that no one else was eager to go first, spoke up, "Well, my name is Cameron Valparaiso. I do have a single parent, my mom, Helen Valparaiso. She's a defense lawyer in Portland, Oregon where I'm also from obviously." Chiron nodded at him and, of course, gestured for me to go next,"My name is Ivrene Abernathy, but you better call me Ivy, and this is my brother, Ian," Ian mouthed 'thank you' to me, "Our dad is a law professor at Harvard. What a coincidence? His name is Richard Abernathy, but he prefers Rick." I concluded, feeling rather uncomfortable.

Chills sprinted up my spine when I heard Marie start talking, "My name is Maria Billows, but I'm better known as Marie. My mother is Soulle and my step-father is Gregory James. I have two little brothers, Matthew, who's four, and Nathan, who's one. Oh, and if I'm correct, I should have a sister in around two years. For the past year or so, I've been living with my grandma and step-grandpa, Jose and Cassandra Ramirez."

She always finds new ways to disturb me. How does she do it?

I looked over at Rebekah, but she seemed more interested in the floor than introducing herself. But then, Cameron nudged her and with a great sigh, she began, "I'm Rebekah Ben-Yosef. If that is too much of a mouthful, Bekah will do just fine. I have two loving parents, David and Anna. I have two older siblings, Joshua and Sarah, and three younger, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Rachel. My whole family is Jewish... I don't live with them though anymore, they sort of kicked me out when I converted to Christianity two years ago." We were all silent and just looked at her. Bekah saw our discomfort and quickly added, "Don't worry. I've been living with Lydia since then and things have been great."

"So, why exactly are we all here?" Ian demanded. That had been his favorite question all day. Chiron cleared his throat and stated bluntly,

"I believe you all deserve the plain truth. You're demigods."

Bekah paled, Marie muttered, "I thought so.", Cameron gave Chiron a look of pure confusion, Ian tensed as if he had just been tazered, and I personally didn't want to know what my facial expressions were because at this point, I didn't know what to believe.

"Isn't that what the old goat called us?" Cameron asked. This caused Chiron to smirk.

"Ah yes, Tumnus. He has quite the personality. Takes a lot to warm up to him. Most never do though. You see, demigods are half mortal and half god." Bekah abruptly stood up at this, interrupting Chiron,

"I'm going to go check on Lydia." Then, she sprinted out of the house. Cameron and I stood up to go follow her, but Chiron motioned for us to sit back down.

"It's okay. I figured she wouldn't take the news well especially since she said she's a Christian and being Jewish doesn't help her case either. Just give her some space. Anyway, from what you four have told me, you all have one biological parent and you've probably always wondered who your other parent was, am I correct in saying this?" We all shrugged and nodded. Chiron continued, "I have already been given the news that... Lydia Dollen, was it? Has been claimed by Ares and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before you're claimed also. For now, I will have Travis and Conner Stoll show you to the Hermes cabin where you will stay until you are determined. They can answer any further questions you have. When you find Rebekah, she'll need to go there too unless she is claimed beforehand."

Then, two tall, brown haired guys entered the room, they both almost looked like twins. But, something told me that wasn't the case. Being a twin myself, I could normally tell.

"Look, I'd love to see our new cabin, but I feel we should go find Bekah. She's obviously not handling the news well." I reasoned.

"Where do you think she went?" Travis questioned.

"Didn't she say she was going to find Lydia in the infirmary?" Cameron asked. I nodded.

Conner clapped his hands together and announced, "Okay then. To the infirmary it is. Good luck trying to get past Will Solace though. He's quite protective of his patients." So, we all headed towards the infirmary and Conner was right. What we found was quite the sight to see. Bekah seemed to be on the verge of strangling a blonde haired boy who must've been Will Solace. He was making quite the effort to be an efficient blockade of the entrance, but that wasn't slowing Bekah down. Strangely enough, there was also a pale, skinny boy with raven black hair and an aviator's jacket on, who was trying to pull Bekah off of the unlucky healer.

"Bekah! Stop! Heel!" I exclaimed. Bekah was so shocked by my blatant remarks that she actually obeyed. Will and the other boy gave a sigh of relief. Bekah stalked over to me and growled,

"They won't let me see Lydia."

"I don't think that gives you the right to harass them." Ian remarked.

"Says the person who kidnapped us." Bekah muttered under her breath. Ian coldly glared in her direction. Low blow.

"Bekah? Did you ask the nice boys kindly if you could see your best friend?" Cameron inquired.

"I was friendly enough." Bekah grumbled. Will approached them scratching the back of his head timidly before saying,

"If by nicely you mean, marched up to me and demanded to see her friend or else, well, then she was as friendly as could be."

Cameron met Bekah's eyes and stated, "Shame on you." This caused us all to smirk. All except for Bekah and the other boy. Suddenly, Marie spoke, "Oh. So you're Nico." We had all forgotten she was there. The boy, who I assume was Nico, jumped at this statement. I don't blame him.

"How do you know that?" Nico questioned cautiously.

"She can see the future." I answered.

"My theory is that," then Cameron started to sing very off tune,

" _She sees you when you're sleeping,_

 _She knows when your awake,_

 _She knows when you've been bad or..."_

"It's not Christmas! Please stop!" Ian proclaimed in exasperation. It was a good theory though.

"Rude." Cameron retorted. Then, Marie put a hand on Cameron's shoulder saying,

"Christmas happens to be my favorite holiday." Cameron looked like he was beginning to regret his theory.

"Bekah," Connor Stoll began awkwardly, "I know you want to see your friend, but you should probably have a proper tour of the camp first. Lydia's in safe hands, but if you're really worried about her, I can stay here with Will and Nico until she wakes up." I notice Conner and Travis share a knowing glance before Conner added, "So that Lydia is not alone when I give her the tour, I need Ian to stay here also and I'm not giving you the option not to." Ian and Bekah both looked as if they were ready to explode.

"Why does the world hate me?" Ian exclaims.

"He gets to stay and not me?" Bekah shouted.

But Conner seemed set on his decision, I could tell there's something going on that they were not telling us about, but after we listened to another five minutes of Bekah ranting and Ian complaining, we set off on our separate ways. Following Travis to a large cluster of cabins, we eventually made our way to the most normal looking out of them."Welcome to the Hermes cabin. This is where you'll be staying until you are claimed. Now, onto business. Bekah, the reason why we didn't allow you to stay with your friend is because we wanted you to be in on our next legendary prank. The reason why we had Ian stay behind is because he is our lucky contestant!" Travis explained with great enthusiasm.

Looking around at everyone's reactions to this revelation, I quickly observed that everyone was grinning widely. This was just the thing to lift our spirits."Now, do we have any ideas from the group?" Travis asked. Marie raised her hand and we all turned our surprised attention to her,

"Like my grandpa always said, you can never go wrong with honey and feathers. It's a classic."

"Well, I know how Ian loves classics." I commented. From the glint in Travis' eye, we could tell he loved the plan. Before we knew it, everything was set up, now all we had left to do was wait for our prey.

Fifteen minutes later, we looked out the cabin window and saw Ian approaching the cabin with a look of impatience marked clearly on his face, with Conner and Lydia trailing behind him. Conner seemed to be taking his time, slowing down Lydia in the process. The moment Ian reached the door, our intake of breath was synchronized. The bucket full of honey seemed to fall in slow motion, with a pillow case filled with multi-colored feathers following in suit. Ian was soon the prettiest hen in the coop.

"You know, Ian. It's a good look on you." Bekah remarked. After that, we doubled over in laughter. Tears were streaming down our faces, I noticed Ian cracking a smile as well. After the day we had, we all needed a good laugh.

Lydia and Conner finally made it to the cabin and Lydia stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Ian's condition. With an expression of the purest glee, she whispered with awe, "Is it my birthday? Because this is too good to be true." Ian turned to Lydia in all his feathery glory and stated, "Actually, it happens to be my birthday." It was still our birthday? It was in that moment when the exhaustion from this very long day seemed to catch up with me.

"Well, I know that people go through phases when they get older, but this seems to be a bit extreme, doesn't it?" Lydia responded rhetorically.

Travis went up to Ian and said, "Well, you better get cleaned up because we've got to head over to Capture the Flag in ten minutes. Bathrooms are over here. Hurry, hurry. Hermes and Ares are on one team."

"Oh and that reminds me, you were claimed by Ares, Lydia. So, you better go find Clarisse. She'll find some nice way to initiate you. Come with me." Conner informed Lydia, who looked quite shocked and confused, but she followed him out of the cabin, shooting on last worried look to Bekah before exiting.

Ian somehow washed off his new style in record time. Then, Travis led us down to a forested area where the game must be located. Capture the Flag was one of my favorite games, so I was fairly excited. It usually required some strategy, which was more Ian's strong suit, but it'd be a fun challenge.

I assumed everything was going to be normal, it was just a fun camp game, right?

But, that was until they handed me a sword...


	8. Cameron Your classic Damsel-in-Distress

**Ian Abernathy's POV**

Why did it have to be her? After we handed our weapons, I still had my sword from our chicken-lady adventure, for Capture the Flag, unfortunately I still had honey in my hair, but I was not going to miss this. Especially now that I had the opportunity to stab Lydia. The downside was that we were on the same team. Bummer.

We gathered around Clarisse, Travis, and Conner. It was Hermes and Ares against pretty much everyone else. Apparently the rules to this Capture the Flag were still similar to the normal rules, except now there was a higher chance of getting maimed. This was going to be awesome. I'm a natural strategist, of course. My sister may be book smart, but there was a reason I helped all of my many sports coaches write the plays for our games. I was meant to go to WestPoint Military Academy. It was calling my name.

Clarisse began to call out pairs, which grabbed my attention, "Abernathy, Ivy, and Ben-Yosef, Rebekah, you'll both be defending the flag. Billows, Marie, and Valparaiso, Cameron, you'll both be scouts. Abernathy, Ian, and Dollen, Lydia, will be offense." She continued to name off pairs, but I fell into a deep, dark pit of despair when I heard my partner's name. Why? Why is it always her? I was forced to spend time with her, she's just as annoying unconscious as when she's awake, just so the rest of my group could have the time to prank me, and now this!

I glanced in Ivy's direction and found her smirking smugly at my situation. Rebekah looked outraged. I didn't even want to look at _her._ But I assumed her expression was similar to mine. At least we could agree on one thing. We preferred anyone but each other. Once Clarisse was finished, she motioned for all the offense players to follow her and another guy, Chris Rodriguez. She stationed us at different areas throughout the forest and gave us one instruction, stay where we are and if we see anyone, attack. I wanted to tell her those were technically two instructions, but I figured Clarisse wasn't the type of person who liked to be corrected. Once she and Chris left, I realized something. Not only was I partnered with her, but I was alone with her too.

We just stood there in silence for several moments. I don't know how long we stood there, but it felt like hours. My mind just kept repeating the same word over and over again, _"Awkward, Awkward, Awkward."_ At one point, Lydia sneezed, but that was about as social as she got which was fine with me. I didn't even bless her. I was very proud of myself. Finally, something broke the silence. A high-pitched scream.

This caused Lydia to jump, but instead of laugh at her, which was very noble of me, we shared a look and ran off in the direction of the scream, while keeping as far apart from each other as we could. We stopped in front of a very large hill. What we found was the most amusing yet terrifying sight I'd ever seen.

Cameron, who was in the center, bound in one spot by a strange substance, was surrounded by something that made me want to scream. Ants. Freakishly large ants. They were all around the size of small cars. I'm not afraid of bugs, but when the bug is bigger than me, I'm not a huge fan of being in its company. Lydia looked like she was about ready to dart back into the woods. And even though it was really tempting to just leave Cameron with his new friends, I knew it was the right thing to intervene. Why did I have to have a conscience? Pink boy was going to owe me for this.

"How are we going to get him out of there?" Lydia wondered. I noticed Marie wasn't with him. I figured Cameron either ditched her or ants have a taste for prophesying red-heads, but I figured it was the first option. Cameron trusted his partner even less than I did and that's saying something.

"Clearly he traded out Marie for some new friends." I commented.

"Or Marie sacrificed him for the greater good." Lydia remarked. I actually cracked a smile.

"I like that theory."

It was in that moment when Cameron noticed our presence. And instead of being smart and keeping our location secret, he screams, "IAN! LYDIA! GET ME OUT OF HERE!" He was considerate that way. The ants turned in our direction. Lydia and I drew our weapons as I noted, "Looks like the tea party's over."

We charged the insects. Lydia's tactic was very, um, how do I put this? Head on. She immediately went for the ants' very armored hides and was having very little success. But I have to thank her, that was going to be my plan until I saw how it was working out for her. So, I adjusted my goal from killing to maiming. For this ant colony, I made having six legs a rarity. Don't mess with my mad skills.

Standing up after my most recent handicapping, I noticed Lydia's sword had a crack in the steel. She was putting way to much stress on it when she was trying to penetrate the ant armor. I called out to her,

"Lydia! Your sword-" CRACK! She had just brought down her sword onto another ant when the blade snapped in half. The last part of my crucial message was whispered to myself, "is breaking." Well. I tried. Just my luck though, now she was as defenseless as Cameron. Then, Lydia, like a true warrior, ducked the poisonous pincers and hid behind me. Wow. Such bravery in the face of complete defeat. I feel much safer now.

"I'll get Cameron and you keep these things busy." Lydia suggested against my will before running off to drag Cameron to safety. Did I mention that she's my least favorite person? Somehow she managed to get Cameron out of his bindings with one of her sword shards, and the two then ran behind a boulder. My heroes.

Something that happened next that did not ease my nerves was when Marie came out of the bushes. I was going to yell at her to go back into hiding, but then she raised her crossbow. Right at me! What I did next was not my finest moment. I may or may not of dropped my sword, raised both my hands in front of my face, and yelped, "Please spare me!" It may or may not have happened. I cannot disclose that information.

What? She has really good accuracy. I wouldn't be surprised if she had turned evil and decided to make my face a target. Thankfully, the arrow missed. Okay. That's a lie. It hit its actual target. The ant right behind me. Dang it! Now I owe my life to her. Well, at least it's not to Lydia. Her golden arrow had landed right in the ant's eye socket and its insides all evaporated except for its armored shell.

I sprinted towards Marie, Cameron, and Lydia, wanting to get away from the ant hill. I found Lydia hugging Marie saying, "Thanks. That was so cool, you killing that ant like that."

"What about the countless ants I maimed?" I retorted.

"I'm hearing maimed, but I'm not hearing killed. Sorry. Killing is more impressive. Maybe next time though." Lydia responded nonchalantly. My face must've been intimidating because both Marie and Cameron backed away. But Lydia just continued to stare me down. Then, Marie changed the subject,

"Cameron, why did you leave? I found the flag, but when I turned to tell you, you were gone."

"You did! Where is it?" I exclaimed, wanting to get this game over with.

"Follow me." Marie ordered. She darted into the woods and we had to sprint to catch up with her. She was a fast little girl. Soon, we saw the flag. It had an owl embroidered on it. There were no guards around it, which was strange. Lydia ran up to the flag and picked it up triumphantly. Next thing we knew, she was suspended in a golden net.

Grinning up at her, I snatched the flag from her hand and dashed off. I heard her shouting quite the creative cuss words at me as I ran. Huh. I thought Christians frowned upon that kind of language.

I almost made it across the border to my team's side, but that's when I saw the glint of an enemy archer's arrow in a tree. Fortunately, right on the other side of the border was my sister. In one instant, I bundled up the flag and threw it with all my might towards my sister. She caught it with ease, winning us the game. Twin power.

A horn blew in the distance and we were soon surrounded by our new fan club. The Ares cabin was gloating like never before to the Athena cabin. All the Athena children were visibly steaming. They obviously hadn't lost in a long time. But everyone's reactions changed when a glowing silver owl symbol appeared over me and Ivy's heads. Everyone looked at us like it made perfect sense. I noticed Marie, Cameron, and Lydia standing in the back of the crowd next to Rebekah. They all seemed to be the most confused over what was happening. Chiron stepped towards us and proclaimed loudly,

"All hail, Ian and Ivrene Abernathy, son and daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom and war strategy!"

Hopefully, this means I won't have to ever be on Lydia's team again...


	9. I was wrong about my dad

**Marie Billows' POV**

My mother and grandmother always told me I was different, and it was pretty obvious why. I could see things that were yet to come. But when my suspicions of what I was came true, I thought my assumption of who my godly father was would too. But how wrong I was.

I had been wrong about things before, there's no doubt about that. Like when Lydia ended up being a demigod, that was a surprise to me, but I had the feeling that Ivy and Ian were children of Athena and my instincts were correct in that case. So, I guess it just depended on the situation.

But, ever since I was very young I've loved playing on the warm beach, reading poetry, listening to all types of music, and, of course, archery. Plus, with my prophetic ability, it just seemed to connect all the dots to who my father was. It had to be Apollo, it just had to be.

For the past year, where I lived with my grandparents. I was homeschooled, and my grandma was obsessed with me knowing everything I could about Greek and Roman mythology, so I considered myself to be quite informed in field. Maybe my grandma knew my mother had fallen in love with a god. It would explain a lot.After Capture the Flag was finished, we all headed towards a large campfire that seemed to reflect the moods of the campers, because at the moment it was big and red, kind of like the Ares cabin. Lydia was over with her cabin, the same with Ivy and Ian, who both seemed conflicted that they were on the winning team, but were now in the losing cabin. Understandable distress.

I sat down in between Cameron and Bekah, Bekah didn't seem to mind, but Cameron had a very uncomfortable look on his face.

"What's wrong, Cameron?" I asked him softly.

"Nothing." I heard him mutter. I looked over to Bekah to see if I did something wrong, but she just shrugged. Then, I spotted some girls that were from the Aphrodite cabin throwing mock kissy faces in Cameron's direction and pointing at his red and pink apparel, apparently finding it quite hilarious. I felt bad for him. I knew what it was like to feel like an outcast every day of your life. But in one lightning fast movement, I saw Cameron whip out his hot pink straw and shoot his made-with-love spitballs at the girls. Now one was making out with her make-up bag and the other with an unsuspecting Hephaestus camper. Bekah burst out laughing when she noticed this, and Cameron grinned proudly at his handy-work.

Suddenly, it happened again. A bright red symbol of a bow appeared over Cameron's head. Another from our group was claimed. But, I didn't recognize the symbol. No one else did either.

Chiron summoned Cameron to come down the bleachers over to him. Cameron awkwardly stood and approached the centaur until he was front and center, for the whole camp to see.

"All hail, Cameron Valparaiso, son of Eros, god of love." Chiron announced to the camp.

Another thing I hadn't seen coming. Was something happening to my abilities?

Everyone kneeled at Chiron's announcement, and everyone definitely seemed shocked. I guessed that children of Eros were rare. I saw only two people in the crowd who looked truly peeved though, Nico di Angelo, who I'd met at the infirmary earlier and a pretty Asian girl with pink eyeliner on from the Aphrodite cabin. She still seemed pretty upset that he enchanted two of her cabin members into a forced love trance.

The girl even proceeded to stand up and exclaim, "Excuse me? But there is only one true god, or should I properly say, goddess of love here at this camp, and that is Aphrodite. Who else agrees with me?" Many people began nodding their heads in agreement to her, I had to admit, her words were powerful.

Chiron called out for calm as he pointed out, "Eros, although I have never heard of him having a demigod child before, is an official god of love, and a child of Aphrodite herself. And until we get our main architect over here to discuss the construction of an Eros cabin, it makes the most logical sense for Cameron to stay in the Aphrodite cabin until then." This caused much protest from both Cameron and the Aphrodite cabin, but the discussion was over. Cameron dejectedly made his way over to where the Aphrodite kids were seated and sat down in an empty spot next a girl with blonde pigtails and pink and white braces showing as she smiled kindly at him.

I looked at Bekah, we were down to two, and this fact made me nervous.

The camp snapped out of their surprised mood and began singing various campfire songs. The night dragged on and on, but no one else got claimed. I headed back to the Hermes cabin at the end of the night with Bekah. Sleep was beginning to sound pretty good. We rolled out the sleeping bags that Travis and Conner handed us, and I was out like a light the second my head hit the pillow. But, then the nightmares came.

Flashes of different monsters attacking my new friends, a three headed dog growling menacingly at me, a bloody, silver bow thrown at my feet, and Nico di Angelo drowning, he was staring into my soul with a look of pure betrayal in his eyes.

I woke up in a cold sweat. It was always the visions that I had in my dreams that, without a doubt, came true every time. I shuddered.

Getting to my feet, my legs were shaking severely. I silently exited the cabin, making sure not to wake anyone. I sprinted to the lake, laid down on the beach, and listened to the flowing water. I was at complete peace until something squawked angrily at me. It was a chicken lady, I mean harpy from what I've been informed, and she looked furious yet cheerful at the same time. I realized why when I saw her lick her lips and squawk for her harpy friends to join in the new snack that she had found. I stumbled backwards and fell into the lake. I stood up quickly in the shallow water and kept my hand stretched out far in front of me as the harpies hurdled at me, feverous to attack.I clenched my eyes shut and waited for their claws to dig into me. What a way to spend my first day here, getting mauled by the cleaning harpies. But the attack didn't come, instead, the squawking ceased and cautiously opened my eyes to find unconscious harpies on the beach, all of them drenched in water like they were hit with a tsunami. Bekah was there also, wide awake from surprise. She probably saw my empty sleeping bag and came out to check on me. Now she was staring at my like I was absolutely fascinating yet terrifying at the same time. I was just as surprised as she was, looking down at my clothes, I saw that I was completely dry and I felt full of energy, like I could run a marathon. I calmly approached her, trying to think of something logical to say, but all that came out off my mouth was, "I had a nightmare." As if that explained everything.

I then noticed that it wasn't me she was looking at. It was the giant green trident glowing above my head.

I heard a door spring open, and the symbol still wasn't fading. I saw Clarisse the Ares cabin leader marching towards us, I guess I made more noise than I thought. But she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what was suspended above me. The look she gave me was one of complete urgency, as if I was a nuclear bomb that was ready to go off. Grabbing my arm, she half led, half dragged me to the large blue house where Chiron stayed. She pounded on the door for almost two minutes before Chiron opened it, his peppered brown hair and white horse's tail in curlers, as he asked, shocked by their abrupt intrusion to his sleep, "What is it, Miss La Rue?"

Pointing back at me dramatically, she responded in a deadly whisper, "She just got claimed. By Poseidon. I saw the symbol with my own eyes. It was just like Percy's."

Chiron's eyes widened significantly as he looked at me with a new interest in them. I wanted to shrink away. This couldn't be right.

"Come inside, Miss Billows. Hurry!" Chiron urged quietly. Obeying, I made my way to the couch across from him.

After Chiron convinced Clarisse that she had done enough bringing me to him, he told her to f back to her cabin and get some sleep. She grudgingly complied. For about five minutes, Chiron merely watched me as if he expected something, but I wasn't sure what to do.Finally, he asked my a question, "Marie, do you know who Poseidon is?"

"He's the god of the sea and earthquakes." I answered automatically.

"Correct. But you don't seem convinced." Chiron stated simply, I nodded.

"I suspected, from the moment I arrived here that my father was Apollo. I match so many of his traits that it is more than uncanny." Chiron then answered my statement with a similar nod. I didn't understand how Poseidon could possibly be my father, yes, I do enjoy the ocean back in California, but it was never my favorite. Then, Chiron said something I truly didn't see coming, these surprises were beginning to bother me."I knew your last name seemed familiar. You're Soulle Billows' daughter, aren't you." I simply stared at him with a clearly dumbfounded expression, there was no possible way he could've known that. All I answered with was, "It's technically Soulle Billows-James now."

"I'm just guessing that you didn't know that your mother was a demigod. Child of Apollo if I'm not mistaken." Chiron speculated.Accidently slipping into Spanish, my step-grandpa Jose insisted on be being fluent, I cried out in exasperation, "Como pudo mentirme?" _\- "How could she lie to me?" -_ Chiron must've taken a course in Spanish during his free-time because he immediately responded,

"She probably lied to you because if your father is Poseidon and your mother is a demigod, then you had more god in you than mortal. You are going to be quite the powerful demigod."

I just shook my head and remarked, "Trust me, the only power I have is prophecies that don't always add up, good aim, and the ability to splash giant chickens."

"I can tell this is a lot for you to process, so how about you go sleep in the guest room tonight and I'll bring someone by tomorrow morning who will be able to relate to you more than I can." Chiron told me gently. Suddenly, the face of a older boy with swept-aside black hair, a natural tan, and sea-green eyes popped up in my head, and although I'd never seen him before in my life, I instantly knew his name,

"It's Percy Jackson, isn't it? My brother." Chiron only nodded in response again and motioned me towards the guest room. Without complaint, I fell asleep as easily as I had the first time, but of course the same haunting images ran through my head until I woke up again.

This time, morning sunlight was shining through my window, and I heard voices coming from the other room.

"I have a what?" One voice exclaimed.

"Chiron! This is a big deal. Another child of Poseidon?" A voice of a girl questioned.

"Yes, I agree with you, Annabeth. It was unexpected, but we should probably quiet down our voices, I suspect she's listening." Chiron stated calmly. It became stone silent, and I took this as my cue to enter.

Percy looked exactly like the image that appeared in my head the night before, except he looked at me with complete amazement. The girl, who I assumed was Annabeth, looked me up and down like I was some strange anomaly that she couldn't figure out, and Chiron just simply gave me a light smile, taking note of my clear discomfort. Seeing no other way to make things less awkward, I held out my hand to Percy and tried to sound as confident as possible,

"My name is Marie Billows. I guess we're siblings."

He gave me one last uncomfortable look before he firmly shook my hand in return.


End file.
